divers head back into the water to find the wreckage of the missing airasia plane. we're live in indonesia for the very latest coming next. also ahead this hour one of the worst brush fires in decades is still burning in south australia and conditions makey get worse. in kenya murder charges could be considered after a deadly building collapse. and buckingham palace issues categorical denials after a u.s. lawsuit allegations prince andrew had sex with a minor. hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. you're watching cnn live coverage. i'm natalie allen. as divers comb the java sea for any trace of airasia flight

8501 the indonesian military is offering to fly victims' family members over the search zone. loved ones would be allowed to throw flowers and pay their respects. meantime searchers are particularly interested in four large pieces of debris spotted by sonar. a fifth place which they believe could be part of the missing plane ended up being a sunken ship. anna coren is there. that fifth piece was suspiciously large when they gave the size and many questioned whether that could be part of the airplane. i guess not. >> reporter: yeah look there were great hopes that was part of the aircraft. it measured something like 18 meters in length so real hopes that they had, you know honed in on the wreckage but sadly they have since announced that

is actually a shipwreck in the java sea so they just focus on those four items that they have located spotting and sonar obviously divers are now in that vicinity combing the waters. we understand several hours ago there were at least 57 divers in the waters but they're having great difficulty the visibility is proven to be a real problem because of the mud on the bottom of the ocean floor. the waves, it's very choppy one to three meters plus they're expecting rain this afternoon. we're actually waiting to are a press briefing to update us on how that is going but certainly we are expecting the weather to close in on that search area which will no doubt call off the search for today, but we are in the middle of monsoon season here in indonesia, so this is something that we are going to see over the coming days and obviously the mud on the bottom of the ocean floor is proving to

be a huge problem. officials came out earlier saying that if the plane is stuck in that mud it is going to be cause huge problems and really delay the recovery efforts, they're going to have to bring in extra equipment. the "uss ft. worth" was called in to assist. they brought in special pieces of sonar equipment to help map the ocean floor and trying to get a sense as to where this debris is. it's believed or it's hoped that the majority of the bodies will be with the wreckage. three bodies were found an hour ago taking the number to 37 that have since been retrieved. only 9 have been identified but as the days progress and we are now in day nine of the search and recovery operation, the bodies in this warm tropical water are decomposing at a rapid rate so what we are hearing from officials who are working with the disaster victims'

identification unit is if the fingerprints is till intact and they'll be able to identify those victims within minutes. if they're going to have to resort to teeth and bones then that could take up to three weeks before the families find out if that person is their loved one. >> just another horrific part of this horrific story for these families that sit and wait. what about these -- the plan to let them go over the search zone. when will you find out there how many families would like to do that? >> reporter: yeah that was very interesting that the head of the military or the army i should say as well as the head of the police in surabaya they met with the families earlier today just behind us in the crisis center here and offered their condolences, they said that their rescue team are actually out there risking their lives in the conditions the rough

conditions trying to find the bodies and the debris and, of course the flight recorder the black box flight recorder which will have the answers that everybody so desperately wants, but as you say, they have offered to fly the families those who want to leave here to the search zone the rescue and search zone and they would be flown out by planes to the area and taken out by boat to where the search is underway. they feel that they can then give flowers, pay their respects and that that may somehow ease the suffering that these families are going through. you know natalie, at the end of the day while they're holding out hope we are at day nine and really the best case scenario is they can retrieve their bodies bring them back here so the families can give proper burial to their loved one. >> certainly understand the

families are so in shock and disbelief. anna coren, i'll be interviewing an official with the indonesian military about his thoughts on what happened to this flight. a short time ago rosemary chunk spoke withto a pastor and a third were members of his church and how they're dealing with the loss. >> we're like a big family but this tragedy, tragedy has brought us even closer together. in the first few days all the families were hopeful they could find their loved one as live but this has been eighth day and many are still in their denial state and unable to accept even the possibility of them having lost their loved ones forever but i have seen a great progress in this grieving process just

yesterday, some of the families that come from our church showed and demonstrated great supernatural strength i must say, because not only have they come to terms with their feeling of loss they actually encouraged prayed for and even shared the living hope in krooisz with the other families who grieve without any hope and to me that is faith. that is serenity. >> pastor says it was simply a coincidence so many of his church members were all on the same airasia flight. turning to other stories we're following hundreds of firefighters are racing against time to stop an out-of-control bush fire in south australia. the weather is okay now but hotter weather and stronger winds are likely on the way. about 13,000 hectares that's about the size of paris, have burned so far. at least 29 people mostly firefighters have been injured. south australia's premier says

26 homes have been destroyed or badly damaged. >> want to go home and have a look and stay there and defend it. >> it's horrible. it's just very -- like a nightmare. >> they wouldn't let us come and save their house, unfortunately. >> when they turned up here i could see the house was well alight and i just said to them let it go save my animals and we did. >> well now they have sent in some teams to assess the damage. the conditions are described as the worst this area of australia has seen in more than 30 years. ahead here on cnn, north korea responds with some strong language to those heavy new sanctions imposed by the u.s. and british prince andrew is named in a lawsuit alleging an underaged sex ring. details and the palace's response coming up in a live report from london.

grim news at the site of a sunken cargo ship off the scottish coast. rescue teams have suspended their search for the ship's eight missing crew members, the coast guard says that after looking extensively they found nothing. they will resume the search if they get new information. the ship was carrying cement when it capsized on friday when rescuers arrived this is all that they could see. the only part still above water.

we noknow what caused this ship to run aground. according to the ceo, the crew deliberately grounded it because it started listing after leaving port in southam ton. they ran the ship on to a bank to prevent it from capsizing. all 25 people aboard were rescued. officials say it's believed the ship is not leaking oil. salvage operations are being worked out. buckingham palace says the claims that prince andrew had sex with an underaged girl are untrue. he has not been charged and max foster is following it from london. max, it's not characteristic that the palace speaks out so vehemently about something like this that's in the news.

>> reporter: no really has exploded. first happened on friday. there was an initial statement from the palace then that says this relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the u.s. any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue though. since then a whole set of new allegations coming through over the weekend from the british tabloid newspapers, most notably on sunday an interview with the woman who claims to be so tencenter of this. we're not naming her at this point and the palace had to come up with additional responses again today being bombarded with calls it's very rare for them to respond at all to legal proceedings as they're ongoing but because prince andrew isn't party to these legal proceedings in florida, he hasn't got a say in the legal process, so i think that's why they're having to respond in this way via the press office the buckingham palace. but very strong allegations. the alleged victim referred to

as jane doe 3 in the court documents in florida claims she was kept as a sex slave by the prince's former friends, that's the billion their businessman jeffrey epstein. now during this time jane doe claims she was forced to have sexual relations with the prince. all coming out in his court documents. when she was a minor in three separate locations in london in new york but also in the u.s. virgin islands, at the home of epstein in an orgy with numerous underaged girls. so severe allegations through the courts the duke hasn't managed to make any comment or have neany response through his lawyers but certainly speaking to lawyers as i understand it pictures going back to london last night. so i'm sure he's speaking to his officials and lawyers today. >> yes, i would think so. pretty serious allegations for sure. what about jeffrey epstein and his friendship with this

billionaire. how close were they? how much time do we know that they spent together? >> well we think they were close friends. they were certainly photographed often together and prince andrew in 2011 apologized for the friendship because that was after epstein was convicted of sexual offenses so he tried to distance himself back then. it's all coming back to haunt him because in the past it was just a relationship. now it's actually prince andrew being named in legal proceedings. there are other high-profile figures, as well linked to all of this. amongst them the criminal defense attorney alan dershowitz very well known in the u.s. dershowitz saying in a statement, "the entire story is completely made up. the claims are all about money andmoney" and he's launching another separate effort to disbar the lawyers who were fighting this case a real sense that the woman here is getting her say in court, that's been repeated in the media but those accused

aren't getting their fair say either. i don't think prince andrew has got much chance of libel proceedings in the united states but there is a possibility he could pursue them in the uk against this woman, jane doe 3. we'll wait to see what his response is. we certainly had a lot of response from the palace already but haven't heard directly from him yet. >> we'll wait and see. max foster who is in abdu dabhabi. a 7-year-old's trudge through the woods after a plane crashed in which she was the only survivor. also struggling children left orphaned by ebola are not forgotten as others in their community step in to rear them.

rescue teams in kenya are carefully searching the rubble of a collapsed building for possible survivors. at least two people were killed when the six-story building collapsed in nairobi sunday. kenya's red cross says more than three dozen people are injured. residents and neighbors told cnn affiliate ktn there were visible cracks in the building before it fell. in a news conference earlier police officials said everyone involved in the construction could face charges possibly even murder charges. boko haram has seized a multinational military base in

northeastern nigeria. that according to a government official. troops abandoned the base after it was attacked saturday. the town is home to a task force made up of troops from several african nations. boko haram is also suspected of kidnapping some 40 boys and young men in the region around the same time period. we are learning more about the brave 7-year-old girl who walked through dark and dangerous woods to find help after a plane crash in kentucky killed her family and she somehow walked away from that crash. the plane's wreck wage as clears at aviation officials investigate what went wrong. nick valencia has more. >> reporter: 7-year-old sailor gutzler is the only survivor of a plane crash that killed her family. on sunday, kentucky state police detailed her remarkable journey to get help. >> during the flight something

went wrong and what she knew from that point was something to the effect that the plane was upside down. her family on board was unresponsive. she utilized her noninjured arm and hand to free herself from the aircraft. >> reporter: sailor emerges from the plane to see a small fire at the crash. in the pitch black she thought about lighting a stick on fire to guide her way through the woods. but it didn't work out so she begins to walk in the dark. >> she didn't have very much clothing on at all. she began walking and it's estimated that she walked for probably around 15 to 20 minutes, maybe more in the wooded area before she was able to see a light at the residence of mr. wilkins. >> reporter: at home in rural kentucky larry wilkins had just finished watching the local evening news when his dog started barking and

heard a knock at the door. >> there was a little girl about 7 years old crying, not bad. lip was quivering pretty good and she was pretty bloody had a bloody nose and her arms and legs were scratched up real bad and she told me that her mom and dad was dead. >> reporter: wilkins later learned sailor track eded through grisly terrain and at one point even a 12-foot creek bed. >> at the scene we were talking about that being divine intervention because she absolutely went to probably the nearest -- the nearest house that she could have. >> reporter: the ntsb and faa are investigating the cause of the crash. as for 7-year-old sailor, she was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital. nick valencia, cnn, atlanta. boy, her survivor story is really unbelievable. that she is already out of the

hospital. the gutzler family has started a fund to help sailor. they're also warning that unauthorized people have been setting up fake benefit sites so be careful if you want to help. the official website can be found at sailor gutzler, there it is fund.com. the family emphasizes this is the only official website set up for sill lohr's benefit. before the second time in a week gestures of disapproval directed at new york city's mayor marked the funeral of a murdered police officer. some fellow officers again turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio as he spoke during wenjian liu's funeral. the police commissioner had earlier asked officers not to act disrespectfully during the service. a similar show of dissent happened last week at the funeral of officer ramos. both were shot and killed as they sat this their patrol car. liu was remembered sunday as a

good man who fulfilled the american dream. here's andy rose with more about him. >> even though he left us early i believe that he is now with us. >> reporter: thousands crowded a brooklyn funeral home sunday gathered to say a final good-bye to new york police officer wenjian liu, liu and his partner, officer rafael ramos were gunned down as they sat in their patrol car in geese. a cop for seven years liu was also a husband married for only two montgomerys. his widow remembered his kindness. >> a caring son, a loving husband an a loyal friend. >> reporter: william bratton said liu believed in trying to make the world safer. >> it's why we do what we do. it's why we run towards danger when others run away. >> reporter: mayor bill de blasio told mourners liu and ramos embodied everything new yorkers aspire to be. >> he walks a path of courage, a

path of sacrifice and a path of kindness. >> reporter: de blasio's presence was not without controversy. in recent weeks he's faced criticism for supporting peaceful protests against police as they did at ramos' funeral some police officers turned their backs as the mayor began to speak. earlier william bratton had issued a memo asking officers not to repeat that gesture. inside the somber service carried on. >> he was my hero. >> reporter: one final tearful good-bye as the ceremony ended. ♪ i'm andy rose reporting. ♪ the coldest weather of the season perhaps the coldest we may see in all of 20151 about to impact millions in the lower 48 u.s. states. pedram javaheri is with us now from the international weather center and my goodness we are

just barely into 2015 and we're going to experience the coldest weather all year. >> i have to say you must have a very good personal weather forecast because i know you're headed to the british west indys in a few hours. absolutely. going to get away from all the cold air. really dominate that the picture over the eastern half of the united states when it comes to impressive to say the least and cold certainly is one thing but the 40 to 50 below windchill going to impact school closures around the northern tier of the united states. the pink line indicates how far south the freezing temperatures will come into play in atlanta, portions of birmingham portions of texas get in on the freezing temperatures and overnight hours could see the freezing range across portions of northern florida, as well. here is most of the coldest air mass locked in over the northern tier. exactly 12 months ago this week the state of minnesota has windchills in the same range and schools closed over minnesota and also the state of wisconsin and that's exactly where we have video to share with you coming out of the state of wisconsin

and showing you the icy conditions across the region. notice how fast people are cruising by on those roads number problem at all in milwaukee. they can handle this. no big deal what soever and you know the temps going to be cold enough for this to stick around for several days and concern for frostbite. just ten minutes of exposure to minus 30 windchill is when frostbite kicks in. your skin can't take any more than five minutes at 50 below zero and parts of northern minnesota will get in on that. high temperatures in degrees fahrenheit zero in winnipeg drops tobelow tuesday. it should be 9 above. it will be 7 below. minneapolis also high temperatures struggling to get out of zero fahrenheit in the next couple of days while chicago gets to that range come the middle portion of this week and when you talk about this cold at 14 degrees your motor oil begins to freeze.

antifreeze starts freezing at minus 35. tire leaks you've sealed in the past you get below zero those leaks begin becoming prevalent again and notice it even makes it far into the south, atlanta, high 38 wednesday overnight temperatures down to 16 degrees in the coming couple of days. here's the trend as we head into the next few days new york city temperatures dropping below freezing and then same for the nation's capital. this is all going to support at least the couple of inches of snow showers across this region of the united states by tuesday and wednesday. it's the latest in weather. more news coming up shortly.

welcome back. you're watching cnn live coverage. hello to our viewers in the u.s.

and around the world. i'm natalie allen. searchers in the java sea have recovered 37 bodies of people who perished on airasia flight 8501. dive teams are taking advantage of a break in the bad weather to search the waters. heavy rains and rough seas are expected though, to return later today. hundreds of firefighters are racing against time to stop an out-of-control bush fire in south australia before weather conditions get even worse. about 13,000 hectares have burred so far. at least 26 homes have been destroyed. 29 people injured. this is the worst fire this region of australia has seen in three decades. coast guard officials have suspended the search for eight missing sailors whose ship was found like this capsized off the coast of scotland. an extensive air and sea search on sunday came up empty. officials say the search will resume in the coming day if they receive new information.

eerie picture there for sure. well the families of those on board flight 8501 have been huddling and waiting for any news of their loved ones inside a crisis center in surabaya indonesia. while the families were away cnn correspondent david mulco was allowed a look inside. >> reporter: this is where the families of those aboard flight 8501 have been spending their days. it's auditorium inside east java police headquarters but for these families it's a place of agony, a place to grieve and a place to wait. i want to give you a look around this caught my eye on the front wall. this is a list of the 162 passengers and crew on board the flight. 162 souls presumed lost at this point. nearby there's a medical area this is where families have been coming and giving information about their loved ones dental records, fingerprints.

on the other side a prayer hall space for quiet contemplation. room to think. family members telling me that's all they really can do at this point is wait and think about what may happen next. more than a week now into the search and families say they're growing tired of not having enough information or enough results about their loved ones. they can, though come look here about the search plans for the day and show the ships in the priority area 28 today. over here the plans for the airplanes and helicopters over the search zone in the java sea. this one perhaps the most sensitive, a list of all the remains that have come back from the search zone to the police hospital in surabaya a the this point a few of the names have been filled in. some of them though are just numbers awaiting an identity, a person, a soul. well there's frustration here with the pace of the search and, of course the wirth inside this

room there's still hope. imam sappor had two young granddaughters and he believes they still might be alive. david molko, surabaya indonesia. trial for tamerlan tsarnaev starts in just hours with jury selection. the 21-year-old is charged with plotting the attack along with his late brother. three people died. more than 260 others were injured in the bombing. heather abbott lost her foot in the attack. she says she'll be in the courtroom during the trial. >> several people that i am now very close with will be testifying so i want to support them and i think, you know this is my only chance to kind of experience what this might bring for me if it's any sort of closure. >> more than half of the charges

against tsarnaev carry a death sentence. they plan to seek the death penalty. repug annapolis and groundlessly stirring up bad blood what north korea calls the sanctions imposed against pyongyang. those coming after the fbi said north korea was behind last month's sony computer hack. let's bring in cnn correspondent will ripley with more on this. he is there in beijing and traveled to north korea and certainly more strong words coming from pyongyang. will. >> reporter: yeah and certainly no surprise natalie. we were just talking over the weekend about the fact it was only a matter of time before we heard from the north korean regime in response to these sanctions and very strong language which is what we expect from pyongyang. what was interesting, though was the implication that the united states really is on shaky ground accusing north korea of its involvement in the hack. they actually referred to international news coverage which shows that they are

continuing to monitor very closely all of the experts being interviewed including some of those private cybersecurity experts in the u.s. who believe it may have been an inside job at sony and not the result of the north korean government but nonetheless, natalie because the u.s. is moving forward with this it shows that they feel they have a strong case even as north korea tries to i guess mount their own argument that in fact they're being bullied, usual claim they make about the united states. >> can you give us any specifics on how the united states is trying to hurt the regime withsome of the actions they're taking? >> reporter: yeah well these sanctions target -- they publicly name ten north korean officials who have never been named publicly before and seven of them are involved in north korea's lucrative weapons trading business. they export weapons and that's one of the ways the regime makes

its money and funds these kind of cyberactivities so by naming them publicly it makes it harder to deal in transactions with u.s. dollars. u.s. dollars are very scarce in north korea and so there could be some sort of a financial pinch here but many are skeptical about how much effect these can have. north korea is already heavily sanctioned. its economy is so isolated and cut off as it is that the impact the true impact on the country is somewhat limited. >> and, of course china, you know does a lot to keep this regime going. you're in beijing. has china had any official reaction to this back and forth between the u.s. and north korea? >> reporter: the chinese government certainly you might imagine feels a bit caught in the middle here because they are obviously neighbors with north korea. they are north korea's largest trading partner. its benefactor that keeps it

going and they have reached out to china to ask for help in investigating the cyberattack on sony which they believe was north korea was involved because north korea relies on china for its internet service. there is a belief that there might be a north koreaen presence probably launching these type of attacks but china has said all along and tried to defuse the situation and the two country need to talk to each other. north korea has called for a jipts investigation into the cyberattacks with the united states. that's very unlikely though to happen considering that the two countries have no diplomatic ties and you keep seeing this kind of hostile rhetoric out of pyongyang, natalie. >> thank you very much. will ripley out of beijing, thanks will. a u.s. health care worker who had a high risk exposure to ebola is back in the u.s. under observation at a nebraska medical center. the patient arrived by ambulance sunday. the hospital's detectirector said

the patient is not ill or not contagious. the patient had been in ebola. a scottish nurse being treated for ebola in london is in critical condition after her health deteriorated. pauline cafferkey contracted it while volunteering in sierra leone. the hospital says she's been given plasma from ebola survivors and has taken an experiment antiviral drug. we'll keep you posted on how she is doing. the world health organization counts more than 20,000 confirmed or suspected cases now of ebola in west africa. more than 7900 people have died there. the vast majority of those cases have been in liberia, guinea and sierra leone. beneath the thousands of deaths ebola has caused lies another layer of tragedy, many west african children are now left without any parents and people in their communities who have stepped up to care for them are struggling to stay afloat.

nima elbagir has more on the crisis in liberia. >> reporter: some family fun in liberia. ♪ in spite of the year they've had. liberia is cautiously registering a drop in ebola infection rates but a new specter is stalking the children here. >> ebola have break down my family. families have been dying from ebola. for now i'm the only father for them. the sisters or the children, i'm the father for them now. >> reporter: father to little benneta and 22 other children of dead relatives all squeezed in here in abraham's one-bed home. he used to be a driver. every day he makes calls hoping to find work. but no one is hiring.

finding food for himself and the children now in his care is a daily struggle. emos salbo is the head of a local aid organization. cnn followed him on one of his daily rounds. an orphan himself, he knows better than most what life is like for these children. >> we have no form of support. we have no international support but what we gather from our friends and our peers, we talk to some of them who have been able to give us hundred liberian dollars and some gave us 6 u.s. dollars and whatever we can generate we put the moneys together. >> reporter: he visits abraham's family almost every day. catching up on the children's schoolwork and playing with them. but most importantly he helps find them food. more than 7,500 people have died of ebola across west africa and the united nations estimates that more than a million

are now at the precipice of a hunger crisis. those lucky enough to survive the disease are bearing the burden of not just caring for the dying but also for their orphan children, an almost impossible task. >> we are incapacitated. we are so much so incapacitated our house are broken many times. we go out in the field. and the news we get there every day is heartbreaking. you can see this. you cannot get out to those children. >> reporter: west africans say for too long they felt abandoned by the world in their struggle against ebola. now they can only hope that the world is not only watching but willing to help. nima elbagir, cnn, london. >> and you can see more of nima's reporting from liberia at our website, cnn.com. up next here on cnn, 12 hours on a plane is too much for

most people but for these passengers that's just how long they were stuck sitting on the tarmac. and they weren't happy. >> the flight attendants were fighting with us and we were fighting with the flight attendants. >> they have a website but there was no updated information on the website.

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israel's prime minister promises to keep his soldiers out of the international criminal court. benjamin netanyahu's comments

come three days after the palestinian authority submitted a bid to join the icc. ian lee has more on israel's response. >> reporter: well it's just highlighting the growing tensions between the israelis and the palestinians. israel extreme liang bring over the palestinians' bid to join the international criminal court. prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressed this at his weekly cabinet minute. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> translator: the palestinian authority has chosen to launch a confrontation with the state of israel and we are not sitting idly by and will not allow this at the hague. the ones who should face justice are the heads of the palestinian authority. our soldiers will continue to dividend the state of israel with determination and might. we will do it with the same determination and the same might. >> reporter: this chris size started last last december when the palestinians tried to push through a resolution at the u.n. security council that would

establish a time line for the creation of a palestinian state. that bid failed. their next step was to garner as much international recognition as possible. that includes joining the international criminal court. the palestinian authority has threatened to take israeli officials in front of that court. israel retaliated by withholding $127 million monthly tax revenue from the palestinian authority. that makes up a large chunk of the p.a.'s budget. with it they pay civil servants and provide basic services. israel says that's not the only step. they're looking into other measures as well including using the palestinians' bid to join the icc against them by taking palestinian officials in front of the court. ian lee, cnn, jerusalem. a french mayor faces allegations of racism after allegedly refusing to allow a roma baby who died to be buried in a local cemetery. christiane leclerc mayor of a

paris suburb was quoted as saying plots in the town cemetery were given to those who pay taxes. leclerc later said that was taken out of context and the refusal was because of the lack of available plots. the infant is expected to be buried today. the roman catholic church will soon have 15 new cardinals. pope francis has announced a group of bishops and arch bishops will be elevated to their new roles on february 14th. the new princess of the church as cardinals are sometimes called come from 13 countries including ethiopia any seal land and myanmar. passengers on a flight from abu dhabi to san francisco were fuming after being stuck on the plane for nearly 28 hours. imagine. passengers say the flight was stuck on the tarmac for 12 hours before it ever took off. cnn affiliate kgo got their reaction after the flight finally arrived in san francisco.

>> reporter: for passengers aboard this flight 183 frustration has been brewing for hours. >> they kept telling us we were going to leave, you know 15 minutes from now, 20 minutes from now, 30 minutes from now for 12 hours. >> reporter: because of the bad weather and gates, all the flights were grounded or canceled so they didn't have enough space to accommodate us this. this a picture of the fog that kept their flight grounded for so long. the planeload of kid, seniors and hundreds of other passengers then had to make the 16-hour flight to san francisco for a grand total of 28 hours on the same plane. >> everybody was fighting with each other and the flight attendants were fighting with us and we were fighting with the flight attendants. >> reporter: this person says passengers did calm down in flight. for his parents it was a nerve-racking wait. all he can do was send his data text from another passenger's phone. >> they have a website but there was no updated information on the website. you called the number.

it just puts new a loop. >> reporter: among the last to leave the flight 77-year-old lela. her daughter is furious at the airline. >> to have them waiting especially if they are seniors traveling on it they got to pull them. >> reporter: the airline has apologized and say the fog caused them to cancel 20 flights. one couple says they're happy the flight wasn't cancelled. >> we had already had another flight canceled and it was a nightmare. >> all right. they have got to be so happy arriving in san francisco. pedram is joining us now with more on the weather. interesting that they were stuck there on that plane for 12 hours because of the weather. i hope meteorologists didn't get the forecast wrong. >> you know what's interesting about abu dhabi, france well-known for the fog capital. abu dhabi is pretty well known in that part of the world for fog so it's kind of odd. you think it's a desert

environment but fog develops. not a good set upup but a pretty expandsive area of hot weather and touched on the fire weather threat in recent days but, in fact in the last couple of days the temperatures have gone from 42 celsius, dropped down into the upper 20s celsius so a cooling trend but still above the norm and, of course the fire threat has been quite high in fact one of the photographs that stuck with me as i saw it here raindrops came down in adelaide in the midst of all of this fire threat taking place. you see the firefighter looking up and getting relief from the extreme temperatures. unfortunately high pressure really has plans to set it back. the fire threat about to increase and winds about to pick up and any time you get this sort of scenario where you already have spot fires in place and get these winds of 50 and 60 kph they will pick up embers redeposit them elsewhere and makes it destructive for places

that think we're close enough but looks like we'll be okay gusty winds pick them up and make it a more dangerous scenario here and look how low the rainfall totals have been in recent months from july through november of 2014 the southern tier of the continent and the lowest 5% when it comes to rainfall and certainly a deficit in place and thermal signature shows you expansive nature of the fires and, again, the weather not helping when it comes to the winds in the forecast in the neck coming couple of days. look at the temperatures almost warming up close to 40 when it should be far cooler into the upper 20s. the latest across australia. more news coming up with natalie shortly.

tributes from the sports world to the white house are pouring in for stuart scott. he was a trailblazing anchor at espn. a loving father and despite his lengthy battle with cancer he never let the disease define him. stuart scott died sunday at age 49. mike galanos looks back at his life and career. >> "sportscenter" rolling. >> reporter: a popular host at espn stuart scott was a charismatic personality and his popularity soared because of stylish catchphrases and ebb leapt on air persona. in 2007 scott began a long public battle with cancer. in 2014 he was honored for his

fight at the espy awards and he talked about refusing to let the disease defeat him. >> when you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. you beat cancer by how you live why you live and in the manner in which you lava. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: chemotherapy and radiation treatments have kept scott away from his work at espn on and off throughout the years. his spirit and fight never wavered, though, even tweeting as recent as november that despite reports he had been moved to hospice care they were wrong. rumor about me in hospice, not true. air ball. swing and a miss. i continue treatment for cancer i missed some work but hospice, no. fighting, yes. his two daughters have inspired him. >> taelor and sydni, i love you more than i can express. you two are my heartbeat. i am standing on this stage here

tonight because of you. my little angel is here. my 14-year-old. sy democrat ni come up and give dad a hug because i need one. have a great rest of your life. >> how about that? he will certainly be missed and you'll have to look him up if you haven't seen some of the catchphrases he invented. great guy for espn. that is cnn for this hour. i'm natalie allen. "early start" is coming up for viewers in the u.s. for viewers elsewhere you'll be seeing cnn newsroom.

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he's out there by himself. narrator: make sure you know where to find your family in an emergency. start your plan at ready.gov. happening right now, divers in the water searching for victims in wreckage of airasia flight 8501. investigators focused on finding the jet lienjetliner's black boxes. happening today, jury selection begins in the boston marathon terror trial. what victims of the attack are saying about the trial of dzhokhar tsarnaev. bracing for battles. the republican-led congress back in washington, d.c. today, but will we see compromise or gridlock? welcome to